Hold on
by Gemdrive
Summary: Mike tries to help his brother when he's injured, can they hold on long enough for their other brothers to arrive and help? Oneshot. POSSIBLE character death. LeoMike centric.


Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT, I simply write a few stories about them for fun. No harm intended.

AN: This is a bit dark and gloomy, it's mainly Leo/Mike centric. If you don't like fics that border close to character death, you might want to avoid this one. I don't actively kill any of them but it is intimated.

Oh, and it's rather short. Sorry.

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**Hold on.**

Mike couldn't stop his brother from shaking, and morbid fascination caused him to wonder how the terrifying shudders were possible considering the position his brother was in.

_The missile from Stockman's robotic machine had made a mess of the warehouse and it was no surprise, as the building started to shake, that Leo had barked out orders to run. It started to crash down around them and Mike had seen Raph and Don on the other side of the room before they were separated by debris, he felt hands shove him to the side and twisted around. He watched in horror as Leo tumbled backwards and the steel girder and brick fell on top of him, the sounds of the building crumbling were silenced as the sickening crack of his brother's shell met his ears. _

_He scrambled on hands and knees towards his downed elder brother, his heart pumping wildly in fear. Leo's lower body was pinned, his left arm trapped as brick covered his shoulder, Mike frantically pulled away as much as he could but soon found that he couldn't free Leo of any more of the debris. It was simply too heavy._

_He cradled his brother's head and tenderly tapped his cheek; Leo's breathing signalling that he was still alive… barely._

"_Leo?" his voice trembled and he silently cursed himself for showing his fear, he had to reassure him that everything would be okay, he needed to be strong._

_Leo's eyes fluttered open, his expression riddled with pain and confusion. He tried to glance around but found that he could only look up. He didn't want to move, it hurt too much._

"Everything's going to be okay, Leo. Raph and Don are probably looking for us right now." Mike tried again to pull at the heavier brick and steel, his growl of frustration turned into a scream as he heaved with all the strength he had.

Leo's head shook slowly, "You can't lift it," he breathed.

"I have to try," Mike responded, "I've got to do something! I can't just leave you here like this!"

"Mike-"

"No!" he cried, "Don't give up, Leo. Please just hold on."

"I can't." Leo's shudders continued; his breath became ragged as he squinted his eyes shut against the pain.

Mike abandoned his futile efforts and returned to his brother's side, his head snapped to and fro as he searched for anything that could help them. "Raph! Don!"

"I don't… don't think they can… can hear you." Leo rasped.

Mike stared wide-eyed at his shaking brother, he knew that he had accepted his fate but Mike wasn't prepared to let him go.

"Go… find them. They… they might be hurt too."

Mike shook his head, "No, I'm not leaving you here. I don't want you to fall asleep if I go."

Leo didn't respond. Mike moved in close so that his brother could see his face, he rested his hand on Leo's head, "They'll be here soon, you know they'll be looking for us. You have to try and stay awake, I know you're tired but you've got to."

Leo's eyes opened to look up at his baby brother, his grimace tore through Mike's heart. "The pain… it's overwhelming… I feel like I've been broken in two."

Mike nodded sadly, "It's your shell, I think it's cracked but I don't know how bad it is."

"Oh," he replied, "that explains it."

"Try not to think about it, I know that sounds stupid but you've got to think about something else." He gently stroked his thumb over his brother's creased brow in an attempt to ease his pain somehow. Leo groaned and tried to move but a shooting pain across his back stopped him. "Shh, easy bro, just rest."

"I… Mike, I'm sorry."

Mike tilted his head in confusion, "What do you have to be sorry for?"

Leo ran his tongue over his dry lips, "for getting us into this… for not moving… fast enough."

Mike allowed a small laugh to escape, "Leo, you're always taking the blame for things. Even now you still think it's your fault."

Leo gulped with some effort, "This time I'm… I'm allowed."

Mike's laugh died quickly, "No, you're not. You're buried under all this because _I _wasn't fast enough."

Silence.

"Leo?" Mike's heart began to race furiously; he shook his brother's shoulder as he suddenly feared the worst.

Leo coughed harshly, his body wracked with pain. He breathed in sharply and twisted as much as he could to try and stop the hurt, it really was unbearable. Mike sighed with relief at Leo's movements but quickly recovered and tried to soothe his brother.

He glanced up to the window that was halfway across the room, he contemplated going out of the window in search of his remaining brothers convincing himself that he'd only be five minutes. Could he leave Leo that long?

"Leo, I need you to do something for me. I want you to keep talking whilst I go to that window and see if I can see Raph and Don, can you do that?"

Leo gave something resembling a nod and Mike patted his shoulder, "Good. Start talking, I won't be a minute."

"You want… want me to tell a… story?"

Mike smiled, "Sure."

The silence in the room made it easy for him to hear Leo talking, "When… when we were young, Raph… got lost in the sewer tunnels. Sensei… he was out scav… scavenging for food, you and… Donnie were asleep. I went looking… looking for him, he hurt his ankle… when he fell."

Mike stretched out of the window, he scanned the area but couldn't see any sign of his brothers, he sighed dejectedly.

"He shouldn't have gone out… Sensei… Sensei wasn't happy… when he found out."

"I remember seeing Raph with his ankle bandaged when I woke up that morning." Mike responded, showing Leo that he was listening.

Leo nodded slightly even though Mike wasn't near him to see it, "When I found him, he… he was crying, but don't… don't tell him I… told you. You know… how he gets about that."

"Your secret's safe with me, bro."

Leo smiled, "He… he was so happy to… to see me."

Mike frowned, "Wait. I remember Splinter being mad at you, why?"

Leo grimaced as pain hit him again, "I… I told Splinter that I made… made Raph go with me into… the tunnels."

"You covered for him." Mike stated, he wasn't surprised.

"Raph… was hurt, I didn't want… want him to get punished for going out… as well." Leo replied.

Mike moved away from the window and headed back to Leo, "Why do you always have to stick up for us?"

Leo smiled as best he could, "Because… you're my baby brothers, I'd… I'd do anything for you."

Mike returned the smile, "Then I want you to do something for me now, and that's to stay with me. Don't leave me alone here." He tenderly stroked his brother's face.

"I'm trying… I won't leave… you alone." Leo reached his free arm up and gripped Mike's hand. Mike became frightened of Leo's weakened hold.

"Mike!"

Mike looked up, relief washing over his face at the sound of Raph's voice, "Over here!"

He turned back down to Leo with a warm smile on his face, "See? I told you they'd find us. Everything's going to be okay now."

"Hmm." Leo's eyes drifted shut, his breathing becoming slow and quiet.

Raph slid to a stop by Mike's side; his eyes widened at the sight before him, "Holy shit."

Mike cradled Leo's head in his lap, "Raph, where's Don?"

"Right here." Don replied, he too stopped when he saw Leo. "Oh God."

"We have to get this stuff off of him, he's hurt bad." Mike commanded, he pushed at his brothers to move them into action.

Raphael and Donatello heaved at the debris covering their brother, Leo cried out in pain when they moved the steel girder from his chest and Raph stepped back to allow Donatello to check his injuries.

"Give me your belts!" he shouted as he threw his arm back, palm out.

"What's wrong?" Raph asked as he pulled the belt from around his waist and handed it to his kneeling brother.

"His carapace is cracked in half, I need to secure it before we can move him otherwise it'll kill him." He pulled his own belt from his waist and carefully tied it around Leo's chest and stomach, Mike ripped his away and threw it towards Raph, never once taking his gaze from Leo.

Leo opened his eyes; his hazy and glass-eyed look sent a shiver through Mike's body.

"You're… not alone… now"

Mike's eyes widened, "No! Leo, no don't! Hold on! Please hold on!"

Leo smiled, he reached up and gently touched the side of Mike's face, his breath slowed and steadied before his eyes drifted shut.

Tears streamed from Mike's eyes, he rocked back and forth on his knees, his arms cradling his brother. "Please… hold on."

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AN: I don't really have the guts to write a death fic where it's obvious that they've died, I made this a little vague so I leave it to your own discretion as to whether or not Leo died.

Sorry if this fic isn't all that, I don't have a beta reader at hand to help out. It's the best I can do on my own, heh.


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